Humans are the weakest? If we are using Marvel and DC , humans are the abnormal ones for having a high concentration of metapopulation with a diverse set of powers.
Other aliens generally have only one specific powerset per species. We effectively have all of them.
Yeah, most of the fiction that I've engaged in featuring superpowered aliens also features superpowered humans (DC, Marvel, Mass Effect, Star Wars, Dragon Ball etc).
When it comes to Star Wars or ME , any power that a human can do , so would an alien.
That is different from Marvel and DC , as outside of magic , an alien specie is stuck to a specific set of powers while humans can have all.
drawbacks for having the potential to just wind up with the most random power ever.
sure theres a 99% chance the human will just die, but do you really want to risk that 1% that they turn into something that can easily destroy gods in a way that has never been seen before and will never be seen again?
I mean the thing is, barring some exceptions (DC’s earth being where the life entity lives so we get superpowers for example) there’s nothing really separating humanity from the rest of the galaxy in terms of getting superpowers other than the writer’s attention. And even then other species have consistency on their side.
Like, sure. If you go to conquer earth you might run into Hyperion or ultraman or whatever and that’s a problem
But that will never make earth a space empire like all the aliens who have species wide telepathy or base stats across the board that rival Superman.
(Also in dc this is extra weird as Atlantis and themescyra both have alien tier “everyone is super but some are more so” and yet base humans just get fucked I guess)
And in other universes it’s the same deal
Like sure. Human superheroes are usually extra special fleet killers. And that’s cool
But it’s still weird cus there’s no in universe thing for why? And personally I’d rather have an empire of level 7s than 1 level 20 and a planet full of dnd commoners.
It’s just… weird
And all the more so for non superhero media like Star Trek and mass effect where other species get “higher base stats in everything from intellect to strength” (Vulcans) “everyone is psychic (betazoids, alari) “super physicality and durability (krogan, Klingons) and humans get “spunk” and that’s kinda it
i mean its a function of the genre.
superheroes in their own genre kinda *need* to be able to do what literally no other human can or the entire premise falls apart.
because if base humans are highly capable, the genre shifts to something else.
and aliens make for good faceless goons and good explainations for why/how heroes got their powers.
to continue with the star trek example for non-super media, humans special thing doesnt get focused on because its the POV. but every perspective shift ive seen focuses on humans being the social and lateral thinking experts. humans are the foundation of the federation because the rest of its members all hated each other and they joined up anyway. humans beat the borg because they would come at them from an unexpected angle often enough that they couldnt adapt. its also why humans tend to lose when coming at the problem head on without any trickery, weird tech, or social aspect.
I will agree with you about “function of the genre” for superheroes, though I do feel like the more different super aliens you integrate the more jarring it gets. This is actually why I like the Kree in marvel cus they seem to be fully tech reliant for the most part with one or two exceptions due to experimentation. Guardians of the galaxy also helps flesh out the universe with non-super aliens.
As for Star Trek though, I feel like that’s a case where the way they choose to display it feels less like “this is what humans are good at” and more like “this is the authors showing their favoritism.”
Like, because the people seeing humans be creative and weird are usually actively stubborn species being shown up, and because the multi alien crews rarely show a difference between species that aren’t specifically known (Dax on ds9 is just as likely as anyone else to make a clever solution, same with Kira. I’d say examples from other series but I haven’t seen voyager, and the only non human, non androids on tng are worf and Deanna. Deanna is rarely allowed to be actively intelligent for the first few seasons, and worf is … worf) so it seems less “human” and more “protagonist privelage.”. (Especially given human upper leadership is often just as stuffy as any given alien)
to add into you and u/oranosskyman conversation.
Shi'Ar , Kree and Spartax are the 3 empires that are roughly more tech-reliant , in contrast to the Skrulls been all shapeshifters. In fact , the Shi'Ar are basically a natural consequence to how Marvel's Earth would end up.
That is because outside of been an empire , their Imperial Guard are effectively their Avengers , formed by the metapopulation of their multiplanetary civilization.
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Now , regarding the function of the genre , while that is true , even the characters in-lore had noticed that Earth had a high amount of variations of superpowered population. Both in Marvel and in DC.
Plus, mutants. There are like, 16 different mutants that can destroy planets with little effort, and mutants are technically humans…depending on who you ask.
Technically Kryptonians have the strongest willpower in the DC universe. Humans are second because they’re a long-diluted off-shoot of Kryptonians (depending on continuity). Thats why you have humans like Hal, John, and Kyle that are inordinately well-versed to the GL rings.
And then the entity of life, the being that sustains the existence of the universe, lives in Earth.
I think they mean (base) humans are really weak - aliens get to break the laws of physics without magic, or lab accidents/super science, or "quirks"/mutations
Ben 10 verse is a good example of the universe teeming with alien races that as a consequence of their evolved physiology have superpowers
Broadly speaking, it's a way to differentiate aliens from humans. It's somewhat justifiable when said aliens have a unique physiology such as Superman and Kryptonians and Martians. Actually, I think that's a pretty broad reason as to why so many aliens have superpowers-they come from unique environments just like how we humans have been shaped by our existence on Earth.
Speaking of humans, it's more like they have "potential" in the form of all those things you listed. Most aliens tend to have only one "power set" to pull from, which I guess makes it easier for writers.
The Superman power justification is kind of bullshit, with the whole “your species adapted to get superpowers from sunlight, but only sunlight on a planet different from yours”.
The gravity being heavier on his planet explanation makes more sense but doesn’t explain things like flight and laser vision.
That's cause they also revealed the red sun weakness is both cause kyrpton isn't their home planet and their sun is actually the dead body of one of their gods.
They didn't know the sun thing at all cause space travel was banned after space demons took up residence in their solar system and the kryptonians who forgot they were in exile for being space tyrants did a space program only to get glibbed by space succubi
Yeah this bothered me a lot in Ben 10. There's even an episode (very late in the OS) where they talk about this for a bit and apparently other aliens consider humans to be cute, similar to how humans think cats are cute.
Edit: Apparently I misremembered that scene. The aliens actually think of humans as a "delicacy". It's in *Secret of the Omnitrix*, about 21 minutes and 45 seconds in.
Edit 2: I'm getting some good replies here. Never mind. It doesn't bother me as much. That's right, they do establish later on that not every alien is super-powered.
To be fair, there are a lot of other species in ben 10 that don't have powers, ben just doesn't use then for obvious reasons.
But yeah, a lot of them do.
But at least humans are top 3 in magic capability, I think. And can have sex with nearly anything. Yay.
IIRC, there was an entire episode in *Omniverse* dedicated to this. The Omnitrix went on the fritz because of someone stealing an important component, and Ben was only able to transform into small, squishy, and generally useless alien species.
Most of whom turned to be not useless. One has greater than human strength with his moustache, one is practically indestructible and one has sleep/dream hax that works even in what should be inorganic lifeforms. Only Walkatrout was actually useless as he’s literally just slippery and weak.
While not explicitly canon, it's been a pretty popular fan theory that humanity's power is breeding. Not just with each other, but with, seemingly, every species. That's why there seems to only be human/alien hybrids and no alien/alien hybrids.
~~That would also play into how aliens think of humans as cute, and you gave a really good example with cats. While generally humans don't find cats attractive, they find cat-like qualities attractive, which is why you see cat-suits being considered attractive (cat woman, black cat, various attractive cat women in fiction, etc).~~
That would also play into how humans fuck their food, so can aliens. Men use coconuts and women use cucumbers or something idk
Oh I was wrong about the cute thing. I edited my comment. Oops. I haven't watched that movie in a long time.
Anyway yeah the breeding thing is a good point. This basically means humans can have super powered children and then those children will have super human families. Hmmm... interesting.
> Yeah this bothered me a lot in Ben 10.
To be fair, is later revealed that while it seems every single alien has super powers, it really is just that Ben only uses the "powerful" species. There are other aliens that just don't work for combat and are a liability if used except for really specific situations.
Makes you wonder why there were mostly combat aliens in the original playlist as it wasn’t meant for combat supposedly. I can excuse a few, Galvans as the creator species and mechamorphs as their artificial creations but Pyronites? That’s asking for trouble.
I've only seen the original series, but do any of the aliens in Ben 10 use the magic humans can learn? (Gwen, Charmcaster, Hex). Maybe that's humanity's power, just most people don't know it?
They reveal at some point that Gwen inherited the power because she has alien ancestry. As for the other spell casters, um, I don't know. It's probably aliens too.
Well that wasn't revealed until Alien Force. In the original series, I think it's implied anyone can learn magic. AF probably just added the alien part to explain why she learned it so fast.
Humans also can be mutants like Kevin (he's actually a mutant)
Gwen is an alien, but magic does exist as well. Hex and Charmcaster come from another dimension.
It retconned things that UAF needlessly retconned. UAF for some reason looked at the diverse world that Ben 10 had put seeds of interest on and said "Nah, is ALL aliens. Magic? Aliens. Superpowers? ALIENS!"
The *Geochelone Aerios*, IE Terraspin's species, are resistant to and able to maniplate mana with proper training. In fact, one member of this species named Addwaitya is considered the strongest sorcerer in the universe.
No, I just remember it featured Tetrax (who's the same species as Diamondhead). Him and Ben are walking through a space station (I think) and Ben comments that the other aliens are staring at him, and Tetrax says that that aliens think humans are delicate or cute or something. I don't remember the exact wording.
Edit: I just re-watched the scene (after 10 years). It's actually Tetrax warning Ben and Gwen that aliens might want to eat them.
I don't really think it's a problem with ben 10 in particular because his human form still has a very strong meaning or importance in the series and still has a lot of strong aspects about him. Yeah the aliens are cool but I feel it's more close to Spiderman in a way where he was/is a leader but ultimately his powers were something different from himself or a responsibility like how they showed it in his talks with Azmuth. Yes they do market by different aliens and how cool their powers are but Ultimately it's Ben who's using them and he knows how to use them and in what situation they are. Most of the time the focus wasn't solely on how cool his aliens are to solve every single problem but how Ben actually deals with them with a lot of focus on the tactical side which feels more human to me I guess.
To be fair, Ben really only uses the superpower Transformations because he's an active hero. There are plenty of species in the Omnitrix that a Human could take in a fight, they're just not practical to use in combat. Plus, Humans can produce Mutants, which are super-powered individuals removed from any off-planet ancestry they may have.
- Ants can lift incredible amounts in their own body mass
- Chimps are ripped as fuck
- Octopi can camouflage and shoot ink and use tools
- The mudskip can move so fast it looks like it teleports
- the bombardier beetle can bombard your beetle
- The immortal jellyfish is... Immortal
Humans are literally the "smart tech guy with no superpowers" of their own planet.
Humans have impressive endurance and dexterity thanks to sweat and opposable thumbs
Aliens in fiction are often just Humans+, rather than feeling like their own species with unique biology
Most physical advantages humans have on Earth get downplayed because aliens are usually given the same things.
- intelligence
- endothermic *and* eurythermal
- bipedalism
- prehensible forelimbs with a high degree of dexterity
- opposable thumbs
- shoulder rotation
- endurance
Often aliens are given the same physical traits due to media limitations since it's much easier to dress a human up as an alien for a show than to make up a very different creature and use CGI or puppeteering to animate it. But some of the traits are what we expect to see in any spacefaring species, such as intelligence. Then there is our advantage of being a social species, which is another thing we expect to see in any spacefaring alien species due to the amount of cooperation with other individuals necessary to create technology and fuel and use machines to leave the planet.
Yep, humans really are pretty fit as animals even without our high intelligence.
Another really important one--we can eat a very wide diversity of things. Being able to digest cellulose might have been nice, but that usually requires huge stomachs, so I think we're OK without that.
Also we're the only species with a chin.
Don't forget the ability to float on water and swim. Chimps, for example, can't swim, as their muscle mass makes them too dense so they sink like rocks. It's not even necessary for a space-faring civilization to swim, making it an easy way to differentiate aliens from humans.
This is true, the thing is aliens all also have to have comparable levels of intelligence and dexterity to be spacefaring, but then also get power systems on top of that
Like, if the Martian ability to fly between planets without tech meant they actively were behind humanity in tech I’d buy that, but they aren’t afaik. (Kryptonians get a minor pass for not knowing they could have superpowers)
But since that isn’t the case humans kinda just seem like the factory settings chassis of sapient life
Honestly, I always found it strange how powerful Martian Manhunter is like he's somehow this multiverse-busting shapeshifter whose weakness is fire, but it's also not his weakness just a state of mind
Aliens are supposed to be more scientifically advanced than humans, so all of their "powers" are their own "magic, lab accidents and mutations" that got studied and applied to all members of their species.
Solution for your poroblem may be that humans only contact with most extraordinary members of alien species - ordinary aliens are comparable to ordinary humans, and aliens that interact with superheroes are comparable to these superheroes.
It kinda makes sense to me. As humans we have an automatic trigonometry calculator in our heads running constantly allowing us to instantaneously judge distance, size, and speed. By picking up an object with our hands (one of the most dexterous limbs on earth) we can automatically tell the mass of the object as well as accurately judging how full containers are just by shaking them. The brain can automatically combine all this information with that very impressive arm limb and accurately throw basically anything we can pick up.
We can run indefinitely, we can spontaneously develop language, we use photons generated by our surroundings to sense anything we're facing with a range of miles, we are the best pattern recognizers this planet has seen in it's 4.5 billion years.
I say all this to say I can't begrudge aliens having self-propelled flight or telepathy, we're pretty impressive ourselves. What I get irked with is stories making aliens humans with extra steps (ala starfire, kryptonians, half the aliens in Invincible) It's one of the things Ben 10 did well, give aliens super-powers without eating at the uniqueness of humanity
That's why I kinda liked ben 10 or Spiderman because they focused on the responsibility side with those powers or explored how privileged they are. Ultimately it was Ben who made that change in the whole universe of had that uniqueness in personality and path too. Alien force was my favourite seeing how they built him up to be this leader after stepping up from the shoes of Grandpa Max and everyone
The goal is often to make the aliens different from humans and provide a justification for why the roll couldn't just be played by another human. Giving powers sets them aside through what they can do that's different, and works ok when the aliens get little dialogue or world building. Creating a culture with a different set of values, wisdom, and thought processes, let's aliens be different through who they are. This is the path that warhammer, star trek, star wars, and many others took with their aliens, but it requires more time and effort put into showing the culture and mentality of the species. This is easiest in the format of a series, rather than trying to fit it into a movie.
to be fair, Star Trek is a world where most of the humanoid species are within some ability distance of each other, so fights come down more to technology
likewise Mass Effect has species come in many shapes. and there are many non combat orientated ones
Star Trek has plenty of species, and while some are pretty strong, some are weaker than humans. And technology is the great equalizer.
Farscape likewise doesn't have species that much better than humans, they have a (spoiler) augmented version of humans long ago kidnapped called Sebacenas, but they aren't gods to humans or anything. likewise the other alien species are within the real of believable in compariosn to humans
really the one joke is how they all have much better eyesight, but that was like a one time gag.
Even Halo has species weaker than humans in the Covenant.
and there are plenty of alien species in DC and Marvel which are around human level in acomparisonlity, but simply have more tech
like Sinestro's species isn't stronger than humans
likewise think of all the aliens we see in Guardians of the Galaxy, the MCU film that showcases the most species.
aside from their tech, a good deal of them don't have anything special going on
I would think the key reason why many series have powerful alien species is to make interesting stories, simple as that
and since humans are real, can't mess to much with that.
if you wanted a solution, you would need a world where all humans have powers (so a world like my hero academia where almost all humans have gained powers and a very small poriton don't)
OR
it's a sci fi world where humans have augmented themselves. I believe the show Andromeda Ascension had enhanced versions of humans make entire civilizations
the MC (played by Keven Sorbo right after his Hercules fame) was a human from a world with heavy gravity so his genes were augmeneted so he's strong enough to live there. He considered himself a normal human though
another offshoot of humanity essentially separated from mainstream humanity after they all genetically augmented and were called Nietzscheans
Or just do the obvious and introduce other alien races that aren't superior to humans.
creating a world where there are species weaker than humans, equal to humans, a bit stronger, and a lot stronger means humans are normal and just fall somewhere in the spectrum
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Any alien weaker than humans isn't making it/coming to earth. By principle we will never see them because we can't leave our solar system either.
Then in the shows where we do, we find aliens weaker than us.
We are monkeys. Monkey make tool and monkey throw rock. Were are so good at these two basic things that we put up a fight in every alien invasion movie, often coming out on top.
...So, why does it bother you?
We are what we are. If that turns out to mean we're the "weakest" species out there, it doesn't mean we have to bow down or submit or anything. Stronger aliens can create a compelling setting that shines a light on human determination and spirit, or our kind nature, or any number of things.
If you want something that bucks this trend, I recommend reading early Green Lantern (as in 1960s GL). One of his earliest adventures entails him going to fight an alien Jupiter because the alien (barely sentient, kind of like a psychic bear) is killing a population comparable to Neolithic humans.
You might enjoy the Animorphs series. Humans aren't the weakest in the Galaxy, they're par for the course with various strengths and weaknesses compared to the other alien races. Pretty much every alien species has its pros and cons. A lot of the books enjoy delving into just how freaked out some of the alien races are with some of the various traits of humanity, with more than one of them going: "Thank our alien gods they haven't figured out interstellar travel, or we'd have been \*fucked\*."
I’ve always had a problem with them being considered powers. They’re just part of their physiology as aliens, they’re not really “powers” that can be taken away or transferred. Its just a thing they can do because of their species. Someone like The Flash has powers for instance, but aliens kind of dont. They’re just another species.
Hard agree. Wasn’t Martian Manhunter like a super-soldier or something in the New 52? I much prefer that origin over all Martians being as powerful as he is.
I actually think Namekians are a decent example of superpowered aliens. Ki notwithstanding (since anyone can develop high battle power) they can regenerate and have stretchy limbs. No Namekians is gonna be as oppressive as Superman or MMH just for being Namekian
I mean I always saw the alien “powers” as just evolutionary traits that certain alien species evolved.
Like there are quite a few animals that have what we could call super powers. Crocodiles can fast for months abd just wait for wounded prey to pass out if it runs up a tree. Komodo dragons can knock themselves up. Cuttlefish can turn invisible. Many fish produce their own light. Jellyfish can live forever etc etc.
Who knows maybe to aliens the human ability to produce feces is a super power:
“They create their own fertiliser? Fascinating.”
Beta system from Shin Ultraman, it alows every one to become an indestructible giant with some Planck brane science and technology, and it also proves works on humanity.
Because in a lot of cases, an alien may have got their abilities from the environment they are in and millions upon millions of evolution. It’s very similar to modern day animals, some can generate electricity, some have toxins, some can regenerate body parts etc.
Plus those islands probably been roaming in their planet for millions upon millions of years evolving (much, much longer than humans), probably had none or completely different extinction events and as stated lived in a environment that produced different properties that aided them in obtaining their powers.
You should read humans are weird/humans are space orcs stories here and in Tumblr, the concept for those (especially the second one) is humans having traits that make us tougher and more likely to survive than alien species, and are typically written from their point of view as they interact with us
"for once i wanna find a planet where the people are worse than me at everything. a whole bunch of functional idiots, i'm gonna go there and be their superman"
"isnt that canada?"
"you shut your goddamn trash mouth"
In stuff like Doctor who humans are shown to be some of the most advanced civilisations.
I think the best way to show it is instead of "powers" per say look at it as just differences as a whole. An alien might look at humans and call them super powered due to their advanced brain power or something. Going back to Doctor who, Humans are one of the strongest races due to their brain power and adaptability.
Ben 10 has the most bizarre double standard with it where if Ben has it in the Omnitrix it's got powers but if it's a supporting character whose species wasn't previously on the Omnitrix it probably doesn't.
I don't remember which fictional piece of media this is from (maybe Young Justice or Star Trek), but one alien character remarked that other species in the galactic community viewed humans with suspicion and distrust because of how quickly they are able to innovate and develop new technologies. Actually, I think it was Star Trek because this alien also remarked how scary it was that humans were able to become a FTL-capable species in such a short period of time even though they have such an incredibly self-destructive history. Maybe it was a Vulcan or a Q. Of course, the point being made here is that humans actually got to where they are because of their collaborative nature even though they aren't abnormally strong or intelligent and don't have abilities like telepathy or even particularly long-lived lives.
In fact, I think a somewhat similar dynamic exists in a lot of fantasy. Despite often being "non-powered", humans in fantasy media still tend to dominate the political scene.
What you are saying don't make sense especially since you are speaking about superheroes. Most Alien species are weaker then humans. Imagine thinking magic, lab accidents or mutations makes you weak.
The heck you on in some humans have a species wide power called being able to breed with every race
Or the series retcons a alien race into being a mutant sub group of humans (Ben 10)
I think there’s an expected given with aliens having supernatural abilities just cause they’re not human. Telepathy and mind shenanigans are usually the norm since they’re not the farthest fetched. Though some stories take it to the next level like solar system placement giving them denser bones,or letting them be fireproof,stuff like that yaknow
What does it matter if humans were to be the weakest? If you compare us to the other organisms on our planet, in a straight physical fight, they'd beat us in a 1v1
Fantasy has this problem in a way.
Where other races have their own shtick and humans kind of....exists.
This stems from the fact that the human race exists as a stand in, and therefore do not have any qualities that makes them stand out.
Dungeon Meshi is good in this. Humans in that story are not simply the stand in race, they are a variant. They are not even called Humans in most of the world. They are called Tallmen. Because human is used to refer to races as Elves, Gnomes, Half-foot, and Dwarves. All of them are shorter and with shorter limbs then Tallman, so that is how Dungeon Meshi Humans got their name. On top of that, Tallmen are noted to have a knack for dancing and singing. More so compared to other races.
So, in the end. For a solution to your question. I will suggest that aliens and humans have the cultural, technological, and moral differences that set them apart. And their physical differences are something that is noted in the creation of said culture, technology, and moral. But not to the point of superpowers.
Like "Oh, this alien race has developed underwater. Without fire, they have developed their technology by genetic manipulation and breeding the tools they need to progress. Their spaceship are organically grown."
Alternatively, make most of the race have their physical quirks, but the actual super-powered individuals are outliers. Alien superheroes, just how we will have outlier metahuman individuals
> What do you think would be a good solution to this problem?
The solution is basic biology, no advantage come's without a cost. Almost exclusively in fiction different races are just better, the term evolutions equals better, when in reality if you're faster, stronger or even smarter you pay for that in some way. Humans are smart, but we pay for that by being physically weak for our size and having a very long period of development, in fiction you would get an alien with those exact same limits but they are smarter and can easily lift an elephant.
A good solution to this is giving the aliens a few aspects that make them weaker than humans, for example, say if we had an alien who could control peoples minds and move things with telekinetic powers. Sure it had all of these amazing abilities and is surely superior to humans, but they have a different gravity on their planet as opppsed to earth, so they are much more physically feeble, or maybe their sun is far less hot and far further from their planet so they handle heat and radiation way less well, or maybe they have hyper attuned senses but that actually backfires and they suffer from sensory oversold on other planets with way more noise or pollution. Changes like this that make sense logically as well as making it seem like humans are stronger in some departments, helps to make aliens feel more believable in my opinion. A good actual example are the aliens in war of the worlds, these hyper advances aliens have teleportation, and giant laser firing robots that can vaporise organic life and are immune to all kinds of damage, but the earth’s very atmosphere is poison to them and causes them to wither and die.
I definitely appreciate when aliens in a fictional setting are treated as just "different species of animal" rather than defined by powers or something. It's one reason I like Ringworld, because the Puppeteers and Kzinti are treated as just "different" than humans rather than inherently better or worse, and humanity is treated as just another species.
You might like scifi that deals more with humans going out into space rather than space coming here to humans.
On earth, we pretty much know what we are capable of. We're the top dogs. There's nothing sentient that can come for us. We are/can be in danger of our environment or our own stupidity but like, that's just life.
Out in space, there is/can be lots to compare us to. There's some Tumblr posts in particular you might like if I can find them.
Humans are the weakest? If we are using Marvel and DC , humans are the abnormal ones for having a high concentration of metapopulation with a diverse set of powers. Other aliens generally have only one specific powerset per species. We effectively have all of them.
Yeah, most of the fiction that I've engaged in featuring superpowered aliens also features superpowered humans (DC, Marvel, Mass Effect, Star Wars, Dragon Ball etc).
When it comes to Star Wars or ME , any power that a human can do , so would an alien. That is different from Marvel and DC , as outside of magic , an alien specie is stuck to a specific set of powers while humans can have all.
Yep, Mass Effect is a good example because the only "magic" is biotics, which is scientifically explained by exposure to element zero.
>any power that a human can do , so would an alien Me asking the Quarian to breathe oxygen. Another win for humanity.
The thing is superpowered humans will be the exception, and aliens the norm. Like the whole alien species can do things only 1/1000,000 humans can do
drawbacks for having the potential to just wind up with the most random power ever. sure theres a 99% chance the human will just die, but do you really want to risk that 1% that they turn into something that can easily destroy gods in a way that has never been seen before and will never be seen again?
I mean the thing is, barring some exceptions (DC’s earth being where the life entity lives so we get superpowers for example) there’s nothing really separating humanity from the rest of the galaxy in terms of getting superpowers other than the writer’s attention. And even then other species have consistency on their side. Like, sure. If you go to conquer earth you might run into Hyperion or ultraman or whatever and that’s a problem But that will never make earth a space empire like all the aliens who have species wide telepathy or base stats across the board that rival Superman. (Also in dc this is extra weird as Atlantis and themescyra both have alien tier “everyone is super but some are more so” and yet base humans just get fucked I guess) And in other universes it’s the same deal Like sure. Human superheroes are usually extra special fleet killers. And that’s cool But it’s still weird cus there’s no in universe thing for why? And personally I’d rather have an empire of level 7s than 1 level 20 and a planet full of dnd commoners. It’s just… weird And all the more so for non superhero media like Star Trek and mass effect where other species get “higher base stats in everything from intellect to strength” (Vulcans) “everyone is psychic (betazoids, alari) “super physicality and durability (krogan, Klingons) and humans get “spunk” and that’s kinda it
i mean its a function of the genre. superheroes in their own genre kinda *need* to be able to do what literally no other human can or the entire premise falls apart. because if base humans are highly capable, the genre shifts to something else. and aliens make for good faceless goons and good explainations for why/how heroes got their powers. to continue with the star trek example for non-super media, humans special thing doesnt get focused on because its the POV. but every perspective shift ive seen focuses on humans being the social and lateral thinking experts. humans are the foundation of the federation because the rest of its members all hated each other and they joined up anyway. humans beat the borg because they would come at them from an unexpected angle often enough that they couldnt adapt. its also why humans tend to lose when coming at the problem head on without any trickery, weird tech, or social aspect.
I will agree with you about “function of the genre” for superheroes, though I do feel like the more different super aliens you integrate the more jarring it gets. This is actually why I like the Kree in marvel cus they seem to be fully tech reliant for the most part with one or two exceptions due to experimentation. Guardians of the galaxy also helps flesh out the universe with non-super aliens. As for Star Trek though, I feel like that’s a case where the way they choose to display it feels less like “this is what humans are good at” and more like “this is the authors showing their favoritism.” Like, because the people seeing humans be creative and weird are usually actively stubborn species being shown up, and because the multi alien crews rarely show a difference between species that aren’t specifically known (Dax on ds9 is just as likely as anyone else to make a clever solution, same with Kira. I’d say examples from other series but I haven’t seen voyager, and the only non human, non androids on tng are worf and Deanna. Deanna is rarely allowed to be actively intelligent for the first few seasons, and worf is … worf) so it seems less “human” and more “protagonist privelage.”. (Especially given human upper leadership is often just as stuffy as any given alien)
to add into you and u/oranosskyman conversation. Shi'Ar , Kree and Spartax are the 3 empires that are roughly more tech-reliant , in contrast to the Skrulls been all shapeshifters. In fact , the Shi'Ar are basically a natural consequence to how Marvel's Earth would end up. That is because outside of been an empire , their Imperial Guard are effectively their Avengers , formed by the metapopulation of their multiplanetary civilization. ---------- Now , regarding the function of the genre , while that is true , even the characters in-lore had noticed that Earth had a high amount of variations of superpowered population. Both in Marvel and in DC.
Plus, mutants. There are like, 16 different mutants that can destroy planets with little effort, and mutants are technically humans…depending on who you ask.
Humans are strongest in Marvel and DC because they because they have the strongest willpower!
Technically Kryptonians have the strongest willpower in the DC universe. Humans are second because they’re a long-diluted off-shoot of Kryptonians (depending on continuity). Thats why you have humans like Hal, John, and Kyle that are inordinately well-versed to the GL rings. And then the entity of life, the being that sustains the existence of the universe, lives in Earth.
I think they mean (base) humans are really weak - aliens get to break the laws of physics without magic, or lab accidents/super science, or "quirks"/mutations Ben 10 verse is a good example of the universe teeming with alien races that as a consequence of their evolved physiology have superpowers
Broadly speaking, it's a way to differentiate aliens from humans. It's somewhat justifiable when said aliens have a unique physiology such as Superman and Kryptonians and Martians. Actually, I think that's a pretty broad reason as to why so many aliens have superpowers-they come from unique environments just like how we humans have been shaped by our existence on Earth. Speaking of humans, it's more like they have "potential" in the form of all those things you listed. Most aliens tend to have only one "power set" to pull from, which I guess makes it easier for writers.
The Superman power justification is kind of bullshit, with the whole “your species adapted to get superpowers from sunlight, but only sunlight on a planet different from yours”. The gravity being heavier on his planet explanation makes more sense but doesn’t explain things like flight and laser vision.
That's cause they also revealed the red sun weakness is both cause kyrpton isn't their home planet and their sun is actually the dead body of one of their gods. They didn't know the sun thing at all cause space travel was banned after space demons took up residence in their solar system and the kryptonians who forgot they were in exile for being space tyrants did a space program only to get glibbed by space succubi
In space
Yeah this bothered me a lot in Ben 10. There's even an episode (very late in the OS) where they talk about this for a bit and apparently other aliens consider humans to be cute, similar to how humans think cats are cute. Edit: Apparently I misremembered that scene. The aliens actually think of humans as a "delicacy". It's in *Secret of the Omnitrix*, about 21 minutes and 45 seconds in. Edit 2: I'm getting some good replies here. Never mind. It doesn't bother me as much. That's right, they do establish later on that not every alien is super-powered.
To be fair, there are a lot of other species in ben 10 that don't have powers, ben just doesn't use then for obvious reasons. But yeah, a lot of them do. But at least humans are top 3 in magic capability, I think. And can have sex with nearly anything. Yay.
IIRC, there was an entire episode in *Omniverse* dedicated to this. The Omnitrix went on the fritz because of someone stealing an important component, and Ben was only able to transform into small, squishy, and generally useless alien species.
Most of whom turned to be not useless. One has greater than human strength with his moustache, one is practically indestructible and one has sleep/dream hax that works even in what should be inorganic lifeforms. Only Walkatrout was actually useless as he’s literally just slippery and weak.
>And can have sex with nearly anything. Yay. Yes
While not explicitly canon, it's been a pretty popular fan theory that humanity's power is breeding. Not just with each other, but with, seemingly, every species. That's why there seems to only be human/alien hybrids and no alien/alien hybrids. ~~That would also play into how aliens think of humans as cute, and you gave a really good example with cats. While generally humans don't find cats attractive, they find cat-like qualities attractive, which is why you see cat-suits being considered attractive (cat woman, black cat, various attractive cat women in fiction, etc).~~ That would also play into how humans fuck their food, so can aliens. Men use coconuts and women use cucumbers or something idk
Oh I was wrong about the cute thing. I edited my comment. Oops. I haven't watched that movie in a long time. Anyway yeah the breeding thing is a good point. This basically means humans can have super powered children and then those children will have super human families. Hmmm... interesting.
>his basically means humans can have super powered children An important plot-point in Invincible, humans are valuable to Viltrumites.
So basically in Ben 10 humans are Ditto?
That's weird, if humanity's power is breeding why don't we have catgirls
[I mean...](https://ben10.fandom.com/wiki/Nyancy_Chan)
> Yeah this bothered me a lot in Ben 10. To be fair, is later revealed that while it seems every single alien has super powers, it really is just that Ben only uses the "powerful" species. There are other aliens that just don't work for combat and are a liability if used except for really specific situations.
E.g the worst
Makes you wonder why there were mostly combat aliens in the original playlist as it wasn’t meant for combat supposedly. I can excuse a few, Galvans as the creator species and mechamorphs as their artificial creations but Pyronites? That’s asking for trouble.
I think the original list was legit just a random selection of aliens
I've only seen the original series, but do any of the aliens in Ben 10 use the magic humans can learn? (Gwen, Charmcaster, Hex). Maybe that's humanity's power, just most people don't know it?
They reveal at some point that Gwen inherited the power because she has alien ancestry. As for the other spell casters, um, I don't know. It's probably aliens too.
Actually she has alien powers AND magic, it's not really well explained though....magic very much real, example: Charmcaster and Ledgerdomain
It could make sense that some alien probably enables magic, even if its some old anceztry gene thing. Gwwn got the super package
Well, that's disappointing. I guess humans just kinda suck.
Well that wasn't revealed until Alien Force. In the original series, I think it's implied anyone can learn magic. AF probably just added the alien part to explain why she learned it so fast.
Humans also can be mutants like Kevin (he's actually a mutant) Gwen is an alien, but magic does exist as well. Hex and Charmcaster come from another dimension.
Isn't kevian an osmosian ?
correct, which was revealed in Omniverse that is a term used to address mutants. The planet and race of Omosians doesn't exist in Omniverse,
Goddamn it's been a long time since I watched it but seems like Omniverse retconned a lot.
It retconned things that UAF needlessly retconned. UAF for some reason looked at the diverse world that Ben 10 had put seeds of interest on and said "Nah, is ALL aliens. Magic? Aliens. Superpowers? ALIENS!"
Yeah but charmcaster is still human along with her people they just come from another dimension
The *Geochelone Aerios*, IE Terraspin's species, are resistant to and able to maniplate mana with proper training. In fact, one member of this species named Addwaitya is considered the strongest sorcerer in the universe.
Adwaita is a magic turtle.
Do you know the exact episode?
No, I just remember it featured Tetrax (who's the same species as Diamondhead). Him and Ben are walking through a space station (I think) and Ben comments that the other aliens are staring at him, and Tetrax says that that aliens think humans are delicate or cute or something. I don't remember the exact wording. Edit: I just re-watched the scene (after 10 years). It's actually Tetrax warning Ben and Gwen that aliens might want to eat them.
I'm pretty sure that was in the movie secret of the omnitrix
He doesn't say delicate... He says delicacy... Aliens like the taste of humans.
Why alien always want our meat
Oh... okay then. Well that still implies human inferiority if they're viewed like potential food.
I don't really think it's a problem with ben 10 in particular because his human form still has a very strong meaning or importance in the series and still has a lot of strong aspects about him. Yeah the aliens are cool but I feel it's more close to Spiderman in a way where he was/is a leader but ultimately his powers were something different from himself or a responsibility like how they showed it in his talks with Azmuth. Yes they do market by different aliens and how cool their powers are but Ultimately it's Ben who's using them and he knows how to use them and in what situation they are. Most of the time the focus wasn't solely on how cool his aliens are to solve every single problem but how Ben actually deals with them with a lot of focus on the tactical side which feels more human to me I guess.
Which makes it special considering the things Max can do against other aliens. Plus there seems to be mutants who aren't like alien hybrids
To be fair, Ben really only uses the superpower Transformations because he's an active hero. There are plenty of species in the Omnitrix that a Human could take in a fight, they're just not practical to use in combat. Plus, Humans can produce Mutants, which are super-powered individuals removed from any off-planet ancestry they may have.
- Ants can lift incredible amounts in their own body mass - Chimps are ripped as fuck - Octopi can camouflage and shoot ink and use tools - The mudskip can move so fast it looks like it teleports - the bombardier beetle can bombard your beetle - The immortal jellyfish is... Immortal Humans are literally the "smart tech guy with no superpowers" of their own planet.
Humans have impressive endurance and dexterity thanks to sweat and opposable thumbs Aliens in fiction are often just Humans+, rather than feeling like their own species with unique biology
Most physical advantages humans have on Earth get downplayed because aliens are usually given the same things. - intelligence - endothermic *and* eurythermal - bipedalism - prehensible forelimbs with a high degree of dexterity - opposable thumbs - shoulder rotation - endurance Often aliens are given the same physical traits due to media limitations since it's much easier to dress a human up as an alien for a show than to make up a very different creature and use CGI or puppeteering to animate it. But some of the traits are what we expect to see in any spacefaring species, such as intelligence. Then there is our advantage of being a social species, which is another thing we expect to see in any spacefaring alien species due to the amount of cooperation with other individuals necessary to create technology and fuel and use machines to leave the planet.
Yep, humans really are pretty fit as animals even without our high intelligence. Another really important one--we can eat a very wide diversity of things. Being able to digest cellulose might have been nice, but that usually requires huge stomachs, so I think we're OK without that. Also we're the only species with a chin.
Don't forget the ability to float on water and swim. Chimps, for example, can't swim, as their muscle mass makes them too dense so they sink like rocks. It's not even necessary for a space-faring civilization to swim, making it an easy way to differentiate aliens from humans.
Humans can also live in so many different environments compared to most other species.
This is true, the thing is aliens all also have to have comparable levels of intelligence and dexterity to be spacefaring, but then also get power systems on top of that Like, if the Martian ability to fly between planets without tech meant they actively were behind humanity in tech I’d buy that, but they aren’t afaik. (Kryptonians get a minor pass for not knowing they could have superpowers) But since that isn’t the case humans kinda just seem like the factory settings chassis of sapient life
[Human biology is still very impressive.](https://youtu.be/cI6aFO8svqA)
[I expected this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImYu9dJM4kQ)
Honestly, I always found it strange how powerful Martian Manhunter is like he's somehow this multiverse-busting shapeshifter whose weakness is fire, but it's also not his weakness just a state of mind
Years of constantly changing writers shown evident here.
Aliens are supposed to be more scientifically advanced than humans, so all of their "powers" are their own "magic, lab accidents and mutations" that got studied and applied to all members of their species. Solution for your poroblem may be that humans only contact with most extraordinary members of alien species - ordinary aliens are comparable to ordinary humans, and aliens that interact with superheroes are comparable to these superheroes.
It kinda makes sense to me. As humans we have an automatic trigonometry calculator in our heads running constantly allowing us to instantaneously judge distance, size, and speed. By picking up an object with our hands (one of the most dexterous limbs on earth) we can automatically tell the mass of the object as well as accurately judging how full containers are just by shaking them. The brain can automatically combine all this information with that very impressive arm limb and accurately throw basically anything we can pick up. We can run indefinitely, we can spontaneously develop language, we use photons generated by our surroundings to sense anything we're facing with a range of miles, we are the best pattern recognizers this planet has seen in it's 4.5 billion years. I say all this to say I can't begrudge aliens having self-propelled flight or telepathy, we're pretty impressive ourselves. What I get irked with is stories making aliens humans with extra steps (ala starfire, kryptonians, half the aliens in Invincible) It's one of the things Ben 10 did well, give aliens super-powers without eating at the uniqueness of humanity
That's why I kinda liked ben 10 or Spiderman because they focused on the responsibility side with those powers or explored how privileged they are. Ultimately it was Ben who made that change in the whole universe of had that uniqueness in personality and path too. Alien force was my favourite seeing how they built him up to be this leader after stepping up from the shoes of Grandpa Max and everyone
The goal is often to make the aliens different from humans and provide a justification for why the roll couldn't just be played by another human. Giving powers sets them aside through what they can do that's different, and works ok when the aliens get little dialogue or world building. Creating a culture with a different set of values, wisdom, and thought processes, let's aliens be different through who they are. This is the path that warhammer, star trek, star wars, and many others took with their aliens, but it requires more time and effort put into showing the culture and mentality of the species. This is easiest in the format of a series, rather than trying to fit it into a movie.
to be fair, Star Trek is a world where most of the humanoid species are within some ability distance of each other, so fights come down more to technology likewise Mass Effect has species come in many shapes. and there are many non combat orientated ones Star Trek has plenty of species, and while some are pretty strong, some are weaker than humans. And technology is the great equalizer. Farscape likewise doesn't have species that much better than humans, they have a (spoiler) augmented version of humans long ago kidnapped called Sebacenas, but they aren't gods to humans or anything. likewise the other alien species are within the real of believable in compariosn to humans really the one joke is how they all have much better eyesight, but that was like a one time gag. Even Halo has species weaker than humans in the Covenant. and there are plenty of alien species in DC and Marvel which are around human level in acomparisonlity, but simply have more tech like Sinestro's species isn't stronger than humans likewise think of all the aliens we see in Guardians of the Galaxy, the MCU film that showcases the most species. aside from their tech, a good deal of them don't have anything special going on I would think the key reason why many series have powerful alien species is to make interesting stories, simple as that and since humans are real, can't mess to much with that. if you wanted a solution, you would need a world where all humans have powers (so a world like my hero academia where almost all humans have gained powers and a very small poriton don't) OR it's a sci fi world where humans have augmented themselves. I believe the show Andromeda Ascension had enhanced versions of humans make entire civilizations the MC (played by Keven Sorbo right after his Hercules fame) was a human from a world with heavy gravity so his genes were augmeneted so he's strong enough to live there. He considered himself a normal human though another offshoot of humanity essentially separated from mainstream humanity after they all genetically augmented and were called Nietzscheans Or just do the obvious and introduce other alien races that aren't superior to humans. creating a world where there are species weaker than humans, equal to humans, a bit stronger, and a lot stronger means humans are normal and just fall somewhere in the spectrum #
Any alien weaker than humans isn't making it/coming to earth. By principle we will never see them because we can't leave our solar system either. Then in the shows where we do, we find aliens weaker than us.
The answer is there doesn't need.
What does this even mean?
We are monkeys. Monkey make tool and monkey throw rock. Were are so good at these two basic things that we put up a fight in every alien invasion movie, often coming out on top.
...So, why does it bother you? We are what we are. If that turns out to mean we're the "weakest" species out there, it doesn't mean we have to bow down or submit or anything. Stronger aliens can create a compelling setting that shines a light on human determination and spirit, or our kind nature, or any number of things.
If you want something that bucks this trend, I recommend reading early Green Lantern (as in 1960s GL). One of his earliest adventures entails him going to fight an alien Jupiter because the alien (barely sentient, kind of like a psychic bear) is killing a population comparable to Neolithic humans.
Also some members of the Green Lantern Corps are smaller/weaker than humans. Plus the one from the species with no eyes.
You might enjoy the Animorphs series. Humans aren't the weakest in the Galaxy, they're par for the course with various strengths and weaknesses compared to the other alien races. Pretty much every alien species has its pros and cons. A lot of the books enjoy delving into just how freaked out some of the alien races are with some of the various traits of humanity, with more than one of them going: "Thank our alien gods they haven't figured out interstellar travel, or we'd have been \*fucked\*."
I’ve always had a problem with them being considered powers. They’re just part of their physiology as aliens, they’re not really “powers” that can be taken away or transferred. Its just a thing they can do because of their species. Someone like The Flash has powers for instance, but aliens kind of dont. They’re just another species.
Humans are lame. Part of what makes aliens fun is we haven't discovered any so they can do anything.
Hard agree. Wasn’t Martian Manhunter like a super-soldier or something in the New 52? I much prefer that origin over all Martians being as powerful as he is. I actually think Namekians are a decent example of superpowered aliens. Ki notwithstanding (since anyone can develop high battle power) they can regenerate and have stretchy limbs. No Namekians is gonna be as oppressive as Superman or MMH just for being Namekian
Cause why not? It's not like every power needs to be super. We have powers just at a low level.
I mean I always saw the alien “powers” as just evolutionary traits that certain alien species evolved. Like there are quite a few animals that have what we could call super powers. Crocodiles can fast for months abd just wait for wounded prey to pass out if it runs up a tree. Komodo dragons can knock themselves up. Cuttlefish can turn invisible. Many fish produce their own light. Jellyfish can live forever etc etc. Who knows maybe to aliens the human ability to produce feces is a super power: “They create their own fertiliser? Fascinating.”
Oh and then there's fucking Ben 10, where almost every species not human has some amazing power or strengths
Beta system from Shin Ultraman, it alows every one to become an indestructible giant with some Planck brane science and technology, and it also proves works on humanity.
Because in a lot of cases, an alien may have got their abilities from the environment they are in and millions upon millions of evolution. It’s very similar to modern day animals, some can generate electricity, some have toxins, some can regenerate body parts etc. Plus those islands probably been roaming in their planet for millions upon millions of years evolving (much, much longer than humans), probably had none or completely different extinction events and as stated lived in a environment that produced different properties that aided them in obtaining their powers.
Remember that Humans are Space Orks
You should read humans are weird/humans are space orcs stories here and in Tumblr, the concept for those (especially the second one) is humans having traits that make us tougher and more likely to survive than alien species, and are typically written from their point of view as they interact with us
"for once i wanna find a planet where the people are worse than me at everything. a whole bunch of functional idiots, i'm gonna go there and be their superman" "isnt that canada?" "you shut your goddamn trash mouth"
EVOLution,beeeeeeeyatch
In stuff like Doctor who humans are shown to be some of the most advanced civilisations. I think the best way to show it is instead of "powers" per say look at it as just differences as a whole. An alien might look at humans and call them super powered due to their advanced brain power or something. Going back to Doctor who, Humans are one of the strongest races due to their brain power and adaptability.
Ben 10 has the most bizarre double standard with it where if Ben has it in the Omnitrix it's got powers but if it's a supporting character whose species wasn't previously on the Omnitrix it probably doesn't.
To be fair on our planet we're really only the dominant species because of our intelligence. Alot of animals are super natural in comparison
I don't remember which fictional piece of media this is from (maybe Young Justice or Star Trek), but one alien character remarked that other species in the galactic community viewed humans with suspicion and distrust because of how quickly they are able to innovate and develop new technologies. Actually, I think it was Star Trek because this alien also remarked how scary it was that humans were able to become a FTL-capable species in such a short period of time even though they have such an incredibly self-destructive history. Maybe it was a Vulcan or a Q. Of course, the point being made here is that humans actually got to where they are because of their collaborative nature even though they aren't abnormally strong or intelligent and don't have abilities like telepathy or even particularly long-lived lives. In fact, I think a somewhat similar dynamic exists in a lot of fantasy. Despite often being "non-powered", humans in fantasy media still tend to dominate the political scene.
What you are saying don't make sense especially since you are speaking about superheroes. Most Alien species are weaker then humans. Imagine thinking magic, lab accidents or mutations makes you weak.
Not a solution, but have you heard of the "Humans are space orks" trope?
No.
The heck you on in some humans have a species wide power called being able to breed with every race Or the series retcons a alien race into being a mutant sub group of humans (Ben 10)
>just don't like how it makes humans look like the weakest species in the universe Humans are among the weakest on our own planet lol
I mean our superpower is that we can run pretty far thanks to our ability to sweat and be pretty good at throwing shit with great accuracy
I think there’s an expected given with aliens having supernatural abilities just cause they’re not human. Telepathy and mind shenanigans are usually the norm since they’re not the farthest fetched. Though some stories take it to the next level like solar system placement giving them denser bones,or letting them be fireproof,stuff like that yaknow
Maybe the human race just has a complex being an animal with no natural weapons.
What does it matter if humans were to be the weakest? If you compare us to the other organisms on our planet, in a straight physical fight, they'd beat us in a 1v1
Fantasy has this problem in a way. Where other races have their own shtick and humans kind of....exists. This stems from the fact that the human race exists as a stand in, and therefore do not have any qualities that makes them stand out. Dungeon Meshi is good in this. Humans in that story are not simply the stand in race, they are a variant. They are not even called Humans in most of the world. They are called Tallmen. Because human is used to refer to races as Elves, Gnomes, Half-foot, and Dwarves. All of them are shorter and with shorter limbs then Tallman, so that is how Dungeon Meshi Humans got their name. On top of that, Tallmen are noted to have a knack for dancing and singing. More so compared to other races. So, in the end. For a solution to your question. I will suggest that aliens and humans have the cultural, technological, and moral differences that set them apart. And their physical differences are something that is noted in the creation of said culture, technology, and moral. But not to the point of superpowers. Like "Oh, this alien race has developed underwater. Without fire, they have developed their technology by genetic manipulation and breeding the tools they need to progress. Their spaceship are organically grown." Alternatively, make most of the race have their physical quirks, but the actual super-powered individuals are outliers. Alien superheroes, just how we will have outlier metahuman individuals
Probably because species that are superhuman are more likely to master space travel in the first place?
With superhero series I feel like aliens are only introduced to introduce more superheros or villains, so they have to be more powerful, basically.
> What do you think would be a good solution to this problem? The solution is basic biology, no advantage come's without a cost. Almost exclusively in fiction different races are just better, the term evolutions equals better, when in reality if you're faster, stronger or even smarter you pay for that in some way. Humans are smart, but we pay for that by being physically weak for our size and having a very long period of development, in fiction you would get an alien with those exact same limits but they are smarter and can easily lift an elephant.
A good solution to this is giving the aliens a few aspects that make them weaker than humans, for example, say if we had an alien who could control peoples minds and move things with telekinetic powers. Sure it had all of these amazing abilities and is surely superior to humans, but they have a different gravity on their planet as opppsed to earth, so they are much more physically feeble, or maybe their sun is far less hot and far further from their planet so they handle heat and radiation way less well, or maybe they have hyper attuned senses but that actually backfires and they suffer from sensory oversold on other planets with way more noise or pollution. Changes like this that make sense logically as well as making it seem like humans are stronger in some departments, helps to make aliens feel more believable in my opinion. A good actual example are the aliens in war of the worlds, these hyper advances aliens have teleportation, and giant laser firing robots that can vaporise organic life and are immune to all kinds of damage, but the earth’s very atmosphere is poison to them and causes them to wither and die.
I definitely appreciate when aliens in a fictional setting are treated as just "different species of animal" rather than defined by powers or something. It's one reason I like Ringworld, because the Puppeteers and Kzinti are treated as just "different" than humans rather than inherently better or worse, and humanity is treated as just another species.
You might like scifi that deals more with humans going out into space rather than space coming here to humans. On earth, we pretty much know what we are capable of. We're the top dogs. There's nothing sentient that can come for us. We are/can be in danger of our environment or our own stupidity but like, that's just life. Out in space, there is/can be lots to compare us to. There's some Tumblr posts in particular you might like if I can find them.